Tag: Intuition

Essential Principles, Practices and Panaceas, A – Z: Intuition.

~ Louise ~ 1 Comment

intuition haiku

Intuition is an essential part of the whole experience of living. Although it will not help predict the future or how people will behave, using intuition as a guide makes life more rewarding. It helps you follow what seems to be the right path, even when social convention or common sense appears to tell differently. Sylvia Clare

I’ve written previously about the importance of intuition. Sadly, our natural intuitive capacity is usually ‘educated’ out of us. Learning to open up to your intuition facilitates personal and spiritual development, creating the ability to tap into an infinite supply of wisdom. Your intuition can guide you to your highest potential; it is a direct line to your essence.

In order to access your intuition it is necessary to tune into your body; intuition is not located in your head, no matter how sophisticated a computer the brain is. Over-thinking smothers your intuition; it’s possible to be too much ‘in your head’, caught up in runaway thoughts that are driving you to distraction.

There are various methods of ensuring that energy is flowing freely around the head and the body – dancing, walking and having a massage are three. One of my favourite ways, however, to reconnect my mind and senses is to listen to this (free) Yoga Nidra audio which promotes deep relaxation. Regularly taking time to link body and mind supports the development of intuitive capability, as I have found to my benefit.

My intuition has become a trusted ally; it often appears as an unmistakable drive to take action. For example, after a recommendation on Facebook (thanks, Jen Andersson!), I knew I had to take part in the Sark e Media 30 Day Blogging Challenge, even though I hadn’t posted on my blog since April 2015 (and I struggled to post once a week when I started it, let alone once a day). It has turned out to be a fortuitous decision for a number of reasons, not least that I’ve surpassed my expectations about whether or not I would meet the challenge.

You have to practice patience when fine-tuning your intuitive capacity. It takes time for intuition to become clear if you’re not accustomed to paying it attention, especially when you have a strong inner critic, aka the neurotic ego, shouting it down. It’s best to start small – trusting your gut feeling on less important matters, such as the route to take on a particular journey (I’ve avoided traffic jams through listening to my intuition and ended up in them when I haven’t! Don’t ask me how it works, I can’t tell you. I just know that it does). Then, when you’re accustomed to how your intuition shows up for you, you can try using it to help you make more significant decisions.

A meditation to help you tune into your intuition is this: sitting or lying down in a comfortable position, close your eyes. Breathe slowly and deeply for a few moments, until you start to feel relaxed. Feel your body releasing tension with each exhale. Then, with each inhale, let your awareness travel deep inside your body. Imagine your awareness moving ever deeper until it comes to rest in a place just behind your navel. Know that you have come to a place where you can connect with your own infallible truth and understanding. Spend some time breathing into this area, familiarising yourself with the tranquillity there.

As you relax, notice any sensations, thoughts, feelings or images that come to you, either in general or in response to a specific question you might have. Just notice what appears, without trying to interpret anything. Don’t fret if not much happens for the first few times you practice this meditation; regular use will improve your communication with your intuition. It also helps to check-in with yourself frequently throughout the day to hone your ability to hear what your intuition wants you to know.

Acting step-by-step on intuitive prompts, I’ve found, leads to feelings of greater vitality and accomplishment. I couldn’t agree more with with Sylvia Clare’s assertion:

Intuition means exactly what it sounds like, in-tuition! An inner tutor, or teaching and learning mechanism, that takes us forward daily. It is a resource that, where recognised, has infinite potential… Open your thoughts to the probability that you are more intuitive than you realise.

How far do you want to go?

In essence, intuition requires being open and listening for what you know is true for you.

~ Louise ~ 1 Comment

Intuitive knowing is the essential ingredient to expanding your awareness and consciousness on the road to a life that will satisfy you.

Laura Berman Fortgang

 

What if you had access to a reliable advisor who always has your best interest at heart? You have: your intuition is an underappreciated and underused human competence, a subtle yet supportive guide that will not lead you astray.

Too much emphasis has been placed on the importance of left-brain proficiencies such as logic and rationality. These are desirable, but so too are right-brain skills, such as intuition, imagination and creativity, which are required to ensure that we don’t lose touch with our humanity and possibly even our sanity.

Reading through old journal entries as I write a memoir, I realise how integral intuition was to my recovery from trauma. Emotionally devastated, faced with almost daily demands for repayment of debt I had been coerced into, and with no means of meeting those demands, I paid attention to my body’s (and mind’s) need for peace and quiet. I balanced communication with my creditors with frequent trips to the nearby coast. A journal entry from 3rd August, 2003, contains the sentence: I’m relieved that my head is still in one piece and it’s all down to sun, sea, sand and sea-breezes. It wasn’t until years later that I discovered how research has proved the healing benefit of spending time in nature; somehow I just knew what I needed.

Over the years I have learned to trust what can be described as ‘gut reactions’ or ‘hunches’, and the more I do so, the more reliable they become. Going with the certainty that I need to act in a particular way, or go to a particular place, have led to meaningful coincidences – what Jung called ‘synchronicities’ – occurring in my life. One example I can think of is a time when I had an unmistakable urge to go a local second-hand book shop; scrutinising the shelves there I discovered an out-of-print book I had wanted for some time. On another occasion I went with an impulse to take a particular route through the town centre and bumped into an old friend I’d lost touch with.

There is so much information available at the touch of a keypad nowadays; we can often become swamped by data. Learning to tune into and trust your own inner knowledge can be the difference between making an informed, empowered decision that is in your own best interest or being pulled off course by external influences.

Developing your intuition takes practice but it is worth the effort. The first step to tuning in to your inner knowing is to unplug yourself from your laptop, smartphone, iPad etc. Technology is a wonderful thing as long as it doesn’t rule your life; when you are constantly connected to a gadget, you are disconnected from your inner self and your focus is in the wrong place. Intuition needs you to pay attention to what you’re feeling so that the answers you seek can make themselves known to you. Writing questions and intending to receive intuitive answers can help you keep track of your intuitions. As you find yourself trusting the insights you receive, your intuition becomes stronger.

Intuition will not suggest that you put yourself, or anyone else, in harm’s way. Inner prompts you receive that elicit anything other than a ‘yes’ response in you are more likely to be subconscious fears than intuition. Acting on intuitive intelligence relieves rather than increases pressure; it engenders a sense of being in the flow of life. To-do lists are helpful, even necessary, although I find my days are more productive and satisfying when I choose items from mine that I’m feeling an inner compulsion to complete. This strategy, strangely, also seems to stretch time for me. Having said that, there are times, like it or not, when you have to attend to the more mundane tasks on your list.

Maintain openness to the ideas and inspirations that your intuition wants to share with you and act on those that you sense are leading you in the direction you want to go; you’ll find it a revelatory, fulfilling and liberating exercise. It comes back to the essential principle of you knowing what’s best for you. I believe that we all have an inner drive to achieve our potential; if we practice being still and listening, our internal compass is primed and ready to show us opportunities that can only enhance our lives. But don’t just take my word for it – try it for yourself and see.